A reaction paper for my Sociology of Deviance class field trip to the NBP
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This was my first time visiting a correctional facility. To be honest, I had no expectations, although some people I know would have been mortified and had pictures of bald-pierced-tattooed-bearded men behind bars, inside filthy cells, always hungry and angry. I didn’t see that this is the norm in Bilibid. In fact, I was quite surprised with what I saw.
From the entrance to the Medium Security area, the place looked more like a small community than a stereotypical prison of hard concrete floors and thick metal bars displaying the inmates like a captured wild animal at the zoo. There were basketball courts, stores and dormitories all around. Even the presence of trees surprised me. The inmates at the Visiting House were ready to interact with us as we shivered in the corner. They were wearing t-shirts instead of black and white costumes, not even the orange tees with a “P” on it (though the Maximum Security inmates wore the same color of shirt). The inmates at the Visiting House acted more like street vendors that a stereotypical hardened criminals. The fact that they were enclosed in a space with us students meant that the guards trusted them enough not to hurt us. It was a terrifying situation at first, groping for a common ground with people we don’t usually interact with.
As we were braving the ankle-deep floods on the way to the conference hall, there were half-naked men in the basketball courts. I wondered if they were inmates. Nevertheless, I expected them to say something like “Hi Miss,” or anything to that effect when we passed, but none of them did even though they looked and were positioned close to us. Instead, we were greeted courteously with “Good afternoons”.
Seeing the program when we arrived was also enlightening. I expected awkward silences and tensions upon meeting the inmates. Instead they were having a mini-program celebrating the birthday of some superintendent, whom again, I expected to be some hard man that the inmates were afraid of (even though the poems and music and the messages described him as an “angel”). I assumed the same thing with the female staff of Bilibid, maybe they were cruel women out to punish the inmates verbally like an abusive mother. But when the superintendent stood up to thank them, it gave me an impression that they were like a family in the prison. I wondered if they were punished so much that they had to cheer on him even though they dislike him, but if the situation was problematic, it didn’t show. One of my classmates even branded the woman in charge of education (forgot her exact title) a “stage mother”.
Their College Guild performance exceeded expectations as well. They were confident and entertaining, even comparable to the kids of Glee (if not better). I can’t believe they have the guts to imitate Lady Gaga. The host was right, outside prison, it would have been really unusual for middle aged men who committed criminal offences to blend voices and groove to the music. It really just broke stereotypes for me.
Perhaps what their amazing performance struck me was how they were enjoying what they are doing. I think it just showed how restorative justice empowers even those who broke the law. There are times when I wondered if they were actually unwilling to perform, if this was against their will. After all, caged animals can perform entertainingly with a whip on the ringmaster’s hand. But I didn’t think so. Instead of passively staying at the cells or toiling in the heat, they were also given education and programs that will help them when they go out to the free community. It does not aim to stigmatize them from society or mark them as so-called “trashes of society” but possible agents of change. Dancing, singing and acting were forms of human expression that no script can animate. The fact that they were given a chance to share their testimonies to the public shows that they are given a “voice” in the correctional facility. Their valedictorian’s speech depicted that criminality has a social facet. It is true. The only difference was how they used their agency.
The visit to the Bureau of Corrections museum showed what wasn’t showed in the Medium Security facility — the technicalities of prison. The diorama of the Maximum Security facility showed the Panopticon-like model of the prison, which actually scared me. Is it terrifying because the inmates inside the facility might have needed that much of surveillance? Or is the prevalence of omniscient authority that terrified me? I think it was both.
The uniforms of the inmates also showed some kind of “branding”. They were differentiated from each other by color. To me, it was better that they no longer wear those awful black and white striped “pajamas” or the uniform that looked like sack cloth, which reminded me of San Lorenzo Ruiz. Instead they just wore t-shirts, which is also what people from the free community wore. But I wonder if they know the difference from the outside. Do they know that there are brown and orange shirts for another degree of criminality? Clothing itself is a discourse, and uniformity means that those who wore blue shirts have a similar ascribed identities whether they like it or not.
The electric chair, which punished mostly prisoners-of-war, was almost a symbol of cruelty and primitiveness of authorities towards criminals. The lethal injection chamber showed detailed procedures of putting an end to a life. I was relieved that the sentenced man would have to be sedated first before the heart-stopping end. It made me thankful that death penalty has been lifted. The tarpaulin recording the major prison disturbances also reminded me what the criminals are capable of. It was a constant power struggle early on. The stories of attempted mass escapes showed the authorities and the inmates go against each other. Were these the more major norm or the exception to the rule? The power struggle early on was an entirely different dynamic from what I saw earlier in the College where both parties coordinated in improving lives more than just paying for justice. It was more of a hand-in-hand attempt at correction.
Overall, this prison trip broadened my vision to the reality of what is going on in place usually hidden from public view either because they were harmful or because they were unpretty. Nevertheless, it opened my mind to a few questions that would be interesting to find out more about. Are there certain kinds of inmates who benefit more from the correctional facilities more? Is there some sort of a hierarchy between inmates even though they are of the same facility? Why and how do correctional attempts usually fail or succeed? How can corrections be improved to suit a diverse group of people where it’s not a one-size-fits-all? What are the results of the corrections in the lives of the inmates after they go out to the free community? These would be great studies in the future because it benefits the rest of society and may even determine what activities could substitute criminal behavior.
Discussion